Monday, June 25, 2007

I am really happy to report that 3 of the 7 books that looked like they might be cancelled have found good publishing homes. One of them is actually with a new editor as enthusiastic as the original editor, which is practically unheard of when a book is orphaned.

The other two books have been shepherded to a different editor within the conglomerate, partially due to the behind-the-scenes-efforts of the editor whose job was eliminated.

Hopefully, that editor will also land as gently with another publishing company who appreciates an editor who has a passion for his books.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

I promise that this is my last post on the JT Leroy decision, but I wanted to write about the backstory here where the film company had offered to adapt their option when her identity and scam had been revealed. I find it fascinating that the author opted to go to court.

I know she thought they were trying to get her life rights for free, but she must have also known she could lose this case. The consequence of this is that she may be able to sell those life rights for more for another film, but her literary career is in shambles.

Has anyone read any comments by her celebrity supporters on this case?

GOING TO COURT OVER FICTITIOUS WRITER - June 15, 2007, Alan Feuer

Cloaking one’s identity while writing — to hide, in other words, in order to reveal — is an old literary tradition. Mary Ann Evans used the gender-crossing pseudonym George Eliot to publish “Adam Bede” in 1859, when female authors still struggled to be taken seriously. Charlotte Bronte released “Jane Eyre” in 1847 under the name Currer Bell.

What, then, of the complex case of JT Leroy, the pseudonymous writer with the titillating past, a supposed child of a truck-stop prostitute who rocketed to fame in 2000 with the publication of “Sarah,” a novel of poverty and sexual abuse set among the grease-stained highway rest stops of West Virginia?

Mr. Leroy seemed at first to be a hot commodity in today’s biography-obsessed literary world, a gifted writer with a grotesquely compelling story that only enhanced the value of the work. After years of celebrity that included friendships with Winona Ryder and Madonna, articles in The New York Times and Vanity Fair, and many other gaudy trappings of early 21st century fame, JT Leroy was revealed to be the name not of a writer — in fact, not even of a person — but of the fictive alter ego of Laura Albert, a mother and otherwise obscure young novelist from Brooklyn Heights.

This intricate game of hide-and-seek with its interlocking issues of identity, fame, money and the healing power of art has now leapt from the media to what is arguably the culture’s second most obsessive arena: the courts. A film production company has sued Ms. Albert for fraud, saying that a contract signed with JT Leroy to make a feature film of “Sarah” should be null and void, for the simple reason that JT Leroy does not exist.

At its heart, the case revolves around the contract, signed by Antidote International Films Inc. (producer of, among other movies, “Laurel Canyon” and “Thirteen”) and Ms. Albert’s company, Underdogs Inc., to option the film rights to “Sarah” in 2003. Underdogs was paid $15,000 under the contract, which was renewed, at the same rate of $15,000, for each of the next two years. Antidote is suing for its money back.

Along with tales of commerce, the jury was treated yesterday to a bit of culture: A lawyer for the defendant referred in his opening remarks to the O. Henry story “The Last Leaf” moments after the plaintiff’s lawyer played a recording of Terry Gross interviewing someone posing as JT Leroy on NPR’s “Fresh Air.” The trial, in Federal District Court in Manhattan, promises to be an Escher-like convergence of the movies, literature and journalism with references to sex in truck stops thrown in and a documentary filmmaker, considering a project on the case, sitting quietly in back.

Gregory Curtner, a lawyer for Antidote, opened the trial by painting a broad picture of JT Leroy’s supposed rise from Appalachian misery to stardom. The son of a truck-stop prostitute, the jury learned, JT Leroy (according to the stories concocted on his behalf) would sit in parked cars or at a diner while his mother turned tricks. He himself eventually turned to prostitution and, after finally picking up a pen to describe his ordeal, tried to peddle his early works to agents, publishers and the like by sending faxes from gas station bathrooms.

It was this hardscrabble “life” that caught the attention of a director, Steven Shainberg, who wanted to work with Antidote and blend elements of JT Leroy’s biography into the narrative of “Sarah” in what Mr. Curtner called a film about “how art could emerge from a ruined childhood.” The trouble was there was no ruined childhood from which art could actually emerge.

Or at least not one that belonged to the imaginary JT Leroy. Ms. Albert’s lawyer, Eric Weinstein, began his own remarks with the memorably understated line, “Laura is a complicated person.” He said she was physically and sexually abused as a child. He said she was institutionalized in psychiatric wards and in a group home as a ward of the state. He said she was in therapy for 13 years with a psychiatrist whom she spoke to by telephone while posing as a teenage boy named Jeremy, an embryonic version of JT Leroy.

By the time the psychiatrist advised her to write, the persona of the teenage boy had become engrained as Ms. Albert’s alter ego, what Mr. Weinstein called her “bridge to the world.” Ms. Albert herself, in conversations before the trial, called JT “her respirator,” an unreal, though entirely necessary, entity that allowed her to breathe.

As movie people say, the “inciting incident” of the lawsuit came with the publication in late 2005 of an article in New York magazine that questioned JT Leroy’s identity. The Times followed with an article in February that identified Ms. Albert as the true author of “Sarah.”

The producers at Antidote were stunned; they were also worried that the commercial prospects of their project might crumble. As Mr. Curtner put it: “The whole autobiographical back story aura that made this so attractive was a sham.”

Mr. Weinstein told the jury that the contract with Antidote was for a book, not a back story, and that the film company could have made the movie no matter who wrote the novel. He then went on to suggest that the project was in freefall (a bad screenplay) and that Antidote had used the excuse of disputed authorship as an escape hatch.

It was at this point that the sort of lemonade-from-literary-lemons notion that can exist only in Hollywood was introduced. Mr. Weinstein said the director, Mr. Shainberg, decided he would now make a new film, something in the vein of “Adaptation” or “Being John Malkovich,” a “meta-film” that mixed the novel with the lives of its real and purported authors in a project touted in-house as “Sarah Plus.”

But that required obtaining the rights to Ms. Albert’s story — a story of such apparent darkness that she herself had required a literary dopplegänger to tell it.

Friday, June 22, 2007

NEW YORK - A woman who used the alter ego of a nonexistent male prostitute to pen an autobiographical novel defrauded a production company that wanted to make a film about her life, a jury decided Friday.

The Manhattan federal jury awarded the production company $116,500 after deliberating for several hours in the case against San Francisco writer Laura Albert. Antidote International Films Inc. had sued Albert, who went to strange lengths to hide her identity behind her alter ego, a male prostitute named JT LeRoy.

Friends donned wigs and posed as the fictitious LeRoy at book signings. They snookered journalists with a phony back story about a past as an underage male prostitute. Albert even made phone calls to a psychiatrist while posing as the troubled teen, and grabbed the attention of such authors as Tobias Wolff and Dave Eggers, and filmmaker Gus Van Sant.

Although Albert stared straight ahead when the verdict was read, and said she expected the decision, she was quick to condemn it.

"This goes beyond me," Albert said. "Say an artist wants to use a pseudonym for political reasons, for performance art. This is a new, dangerous brave new world we are in."

Antidote and its president, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, said they spent $110,000 working on a film based on "Sarah," a tale of a truck stop prostitute that had been marketed as being based on LeRoy's life.

The jury ordered the $110,000 paid to Antidote, along with $6,500 in punitive damages.

Albert testified that she had been assuming male identities for decades as a coping mechanism for psychological problems brought on by her sexual abuse as a child. To her, she said, LeRoy was real.

Antidote's lawyer, Gregory Curtner, said Albert stepped over a line by signing contracts and obtaining copyrights under the phony name.

Jurors asked Friday to have another look at testimony by Steven Shainberg, who would have directed the film about LeRoy's life. Shainberg testified earlier at trial that when he learned that Albert had authored "Sarah," he thought about a new project called "Sarah Plus," about both Albert and her created alter ego.

Below is a press release about an international letter writing contest that one of my clients is holding.

Her first book, DEAR MOM, I ALWAYS WANTED YOU TO KNOW was published by Perigee in 2002.

And this is one of my favorite writer/agent stories, so listen up.

I was invited to the Maui Writers Conference which I had heard was a very serious, prestigious conference (and it is). I didn't know that agents who went were required to meet with something like 60 writers in 4 days who pitched them their books in 15 minute intervals. I was exhausted and the last thing I wanted to do was meet more writers.

I had brought my son, who was about 8 at the time. We were eating sushi at a Japanese restaurant so expensive I couldn't afford to sit anywhere but the sushi bar (there were $4000 Samurai suits of armor on display). A woman sat near us, with one seat open. My son leaned over and asked, "Are you here for the writer's conference?"

She said, "yes."

"Would you like to join us for dinner?," he asked.

She nodded and moved one seat over.

I was shocked and gave him an awkward look. He answered, "Mom, you always tell me how hard it is to travel and eat alone?"

So that's how I met Lisa Delman, who was working on a self-help nonficiton book. It was good, but didn't knock my socks off, so I told her to keep on meeting with the agents she had interviewed but to contact me if she had any questions about the business.

We kept on running into each other throughout the conference, and we ended up flying half-way home together, so we kept in touch (we were about the same age and both single).

My son and I were traveling to DisneyWorld and I asked her if she wanted to see us. She agreed and picked us up and drove us around that day. We had a great time, and as she was chauffeuring us, she asked "Did I ever tell you about the time my mother almost died, went into a coma and the letters I wrote her that changed our life?"

"No," I said. "Show me those letters?"

After I read them, I said, "This is your book."

And that's how the idea for DEAR MOM was born.

She then did a proposal, which I shopped around, and all the editors said she needed the sample letters she hoped to include in the proposal.

So Lisa said, "I believe in myself and this book," and started her contest through Writers' Digest Magazine. She got thousands of letters.

I sold the book on the next submission round.

In all it took five years from the day we met at The Maui Writer's Conference, and she never met with me to represent her.

So this is a really good example of why you should go to Writer's Conferences and be open to what the writing universe has in store for you. And it's also a good example of What Comes Around, Goes Around.

So, if you can link this press release to any writer's groups you belong to, or just pass the word, we'd appreciate it.

“Dear Daughter” Contest Celebrates Special Bond Between Mothers and Daughters

ATLANTA (June 2007)— Lisa Delman and Robyn Freedman Spizman are giving mothers the opportunity to communicate their most intimate thoughts and feelings to their daughters by writing letters. To celebrate the strong foundations and lasting memories that are created and shared through letter writing, they are holding a contest for the most meaningful letters from mothers to daughters.

Lisa and Robyn believe that every woman is a mother in that she gives birth to something bigger than herself. For that reason, the contest is open to mothers writing stepdaughters, daughters-in-law, granddaughters, (legally or spiritually) adopted daughters, unborn daughters, deceased daughters, and “daughter” ideas. Judges will be looking for candid, honest letters that evoke strong emotion, and offer insight and depth. They encourage entrants to share their personalities, lessons learned, wisdom and reflections. The most original, well-written, poignant letters will be featured in the upcoming book Dear Daughter, On the Day You Were Born…

The Grand Prize Winner will receive $1,000; ten other winners will be awarded cash prizes and gifts from sponsors of the contest. Sponsors include Red Envelope, Photofiddle, ProFlowers, and A Perfect Pear. Submissions must be original, written in English and between 500-1000 words. Entries must be postmarked by September 31, 2007.

For more information, including inspiration questions to help you get started on your letter, visit www.lettersfromtheheart.com. www.lettersfromtheheart.com/deardaughter.htm

Lisa R. Delman turned to letter writing as a form of release when a massive heart attack left her mother on the brink of death. She gave the letters to her mother telling her everything she needed to say. Because of her mother's miraculous recovery and their healing process together, the Letters from the Heart Project was born to help women express themselves to their mother alive or passed on. An invitation for women to open their hearts by writing a letter to their mother, the project received thousands of letters from around the world. Dear Mom, I've Always Wanted You to Know...Daughters Share Letters from the Heart, a book of poignant letters, was born. The Letters from the Heart Project has been featured in national media such as The Hallmark Channel, Womens World, The Leeza Gibbons Show, NY Daily News, and the National Examiner. Lisa is an experienced public speaker and leads her own “heart-shops.”

Robyn Spizman is one of the most recognizable gift-giving experts today. A well-known media personality, she has appeared extensively on television and radio including, CNN, Headline News and NBC’s Today Show as a gifting expert. She has authored many how-to books including The Giftionary: An A-Z Reference Guide For Solving Your Gift Giving Dilemmas…Forever!, Make It Memorable: An A-to-Z Guide to Making Any Event, Gift, or Occasion…Dazzling!, The Thank You Book and When Words Matter Most. She has also appeared for over two decades on the NBC affiliate WXIA-TV as The Super Shopper and Super Mom in Atlanta and heard on Star 94 with a popular radio show titled The Giftionary, based on her book. Visit Robyn and check out her other books on the Web at www.robynspizman.com.

Contact lisa@theheartproject.com to interview Lisa Delman by phone nationwide or other arrangement.

Thursday, June 21, 2007

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A best-selling novelist who pretended she was a 19-year-old male prostitute sought to defend herself in court on Wednesday against claims she defrauded a film company that bought the rights to her book.

"Sarah," about a transgender boy who works alongside his mother as a truck-stop prostitute, was published in 2000 under the name J.T. Leroy, who was described as a teen-age male prostitute. But it was actually written by Brooklyn mother Laura Albert, who is now 41 and lives in San Francisco.

Antidote International Films bought the rights to adapt "Sarah" as a movie, it said, in part because of the unique life story of its author.

Its lawyers said in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Wednesday that Albert had constructed elaborate ruses to mislead people about her identity. The company claims it was falsely induced into the movie contract and is seeking to recover $110,000.

For example, in radio interviews done by telephone to publicize the book, one of which was played for the jury, Albert pretended she was Leroy, speaking in a West Virginia accent. When Leroy needed to appear for a reading or a photo shoot, Savannah Knoop, the half-sister of Albert's boyfriend, donned a blond wig and play the part.

Albert said in court she did not mean to trick anyone and had assumed the identity of Leroy to help cope with painful episodes of abuse in her own life.

Addressing a packed courtroom and breaking down repeatedly on the witness stand, Albert described a New York City upbringing in which she was sexually abused by her mother's boyfriends, teased mercilessly about her weight and eventually given up by her parents and sent to a home for troubled girls.

Bloomsbury Books, the novel's publisher, has said it did not know J.T. Leroy was not real. The book was well reviewed and sold briskly in the United States and Britain.

While authors have written under pen names for centuries, Albert's efforts to make Leroy seem real, including enlisting someone to impersonate him, were far more elaborate.

Albert repeatedly denied that Leroy was made-up but the truth came out in 2006 in a New York Times article.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

"In this same vein, and out of curiosity, is there anything out there were the m(ain)c(haracter) discovers they are actually a written character in a novel and then interacts in some fashion with the writer in order to alter the story?"

The only one of these that comes to mind was the Will Ferrell movie STRANGER THAN FICTION, but it doesn't appear to be based on a novel.

However, I received a pitch for one of these at the WD Pitch Slam, so perhaps I'll have one of these to sell shortly.

Monday, June 18, 2007

Because I have had a host of doctor's appointments (for myself - thanks, I'm fine - my son and my mother), I have spent hours waiting in doctor's waiting rooms and managed to finish Lisey's Story in record breaking time for me (it usually takes 6 weeks to read a 300 page book and this one was over 500).

I had lunch with a writer friend (yes, someone who writes whom I do not represent) and mentioned that I was loving Lisey's Story but it was one of those crossing-over-into-the-famous-writer's-universe-to-save-someone novels, and he asked me if that was really a fantasy category.

In case you don't know the basic plot, the widow of a famous, popular writer must save herself and her sister by crossing over into the alternate land where her famous husband once went (and brought her) for his inspiration and grounding.

One of my clients, Chris Golden, had written a novel that has a similar plot. In STRANGEWOOD, the father of a young boy must visit his alternate universe to save his catonic son.

And TALISMAN has that element too, but Jack Sawyer is not a writer as a boy or later as a man.

So, I'm wondering if you have read any other novels (or movies) where the writer (or artist or film maker) (or his children or spouse or followers) must gain entry into that alternate universe to save themselves or the world?

Friday, June 8, 2007

So I started yesterday off with a 9:00 a.m. writers' conference on the upper eastside, which is the most difficult part of Manhattan for me to get to by pubic transportation (so I was up at 6:30).

Three of the scheduled agents didn't show, but there will still three of us.

I think there were about 75 people in the audience asking the usual questions - what are you looking for, how do I query, do I really have to finish my novel before I send you a query and why don't I hear form you in 24 hours?

This conference made me realize again that many of the established NY agents (who do very few writers' conferences) are still so paper oriented that they actually prefer snail mail queries. They feel it shows that the author took extra care to single them out, write a letter, print and sign it and add an SASE.

I think it shows that someone is working with an out-dated communication method. Email is faster, therefore email is better as far as I'm concerned.

Anyway, after the agent panel, I sat in on Sara Nelson's talk. She explained that when her book SO MANY BOOKS, SO LITTLE TIME was finally published, she worked really hard to promote it, paying out of pocket or piggy-backing promotion on business travel (she is the editor of Publisher's Weekly responsible for dragging it kicking and screaming into the 21st century) for book signings and readings that she set up herself. And still the book did not change the world or her economic bracket.

She said that writing is the only thing that everyone thinks they can do well enough to earn a comfortable living at, when we all know that you can't be a successful painter or a musician without years and years of study.

In reality, being a successful writer means a) getting published by a house that pays you and b) selling a few thousand copies which does not translate into enough extra income to quit your day job. Only a fraction of books (she thought 10%, but I actually think it's more like 1%) make enough to bring in a livable income (because you can live on a writing income in a trailer park in Arkansas, but that's not the fantasy most wanna-be writers have in mind). She also mentioned that at last count something like 200,000 books are published each year, and about a third of them are by the self and on-demand publishers. [FYI about another third are textbooks, so that leaves about 66,600 for what we call trade publishing, which is only 10,000 more than what was being published 20 years ago when I started in the business - and I would bet that that extra 10,000 is composed largely of YA and children's books, which is the one part of the trade publishing industry that does seem to be growing].

It was both an upbeat and reality-based talk, so I was glad to have caught it.

Then I went back to the office for five hours before I taught my class how to write query letters.

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

In case any of you are interested, Jenny and I will be on an agents' panel tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. with Dianna Finch, Peter Rubie and Laura Yorke at Marymount Manhattan College on E. 71st Street. They are having a one-day writer's conference that looks pretty good. I'm sure you can google for the details. It is not free.

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

NEW YORK (Reuters) - If you think speed-dating is tough, try selling your book to an editor in three minutes.

That's what hundreds of aspiring authors were doing this week at a New York trade fair, and the odds were against them.

Literary agent Peter Miller said there were as many as 15 million wannabe writers in the United States with books to sell.

"If you do the math, it's less than half of one percent of the people that want to get published actually get published," Miller said as he prepared himself for a barrage of pitches.

Among those he gave short shrift was Kathleen Dolan who was selling her self-help book of anecdotes and poems titled "I Need A Face-Lift! (Spiritually Speaking)."

"I make very quick decisions about whether I can make a whole lot of money for you and me," Miller told her, adding that he had a firm rule: "I don't represent porn or poetry."

Larry Tavlor, a retired family practice doctor and a Mormon who came from San Diego to attend the event at BookExpo, was promoting his book "Diminishing Love," which he said presented scientific proof that gay marriage is wrong.

"As lust increases, love diminishes and families are destroyed. And it's related to oxytocin," Tavlor said, referring to a hormone released during orgasm and childbirth.

"So you can't be lusty and loving at the same time?" Miller shot back. "That's what I want to be."

Miller spent the rest of the three minutes questioning Tavlor on the real estate market in San Diego.

WHO YOU ARE MATTERS

Michael Murphy, a former publishing executive who now runs his own literary agency, was a little gentler, though apparently no more interested in Tavlor's book.

"This is a position book," he said. "With a book like this, who you are is as important as what you have to say."

Several dozen agents and editors were taking pitches at Wednesday's "pitch-slam" at the end of a one-day seminar that also included workshops on writing the perfect book proposal.

"Don't feel like you're a failure if you don't come out of here with a contract," Lauren Mosko, editor of writers' guide "Novel & Short Story Writer's Market," told her workshop.

Analyzing a pitch for a book of women's letters about lessons learned in adversity, she said: "It sounds like a really 'nice' book but there's nothing that really grabs me emotionally."

Among the other pitches were a memoir of raising kids in the "hotbed of commercial sex" that is Bangkok, a novel about Internet geeks, a memoir of police corruption, an expose of the adoption system and a parody of Fox cable show "The O'Reilly Factor."

Meg Leder, editor of nonfiction books at Penguin imprint Perigee, said by the end, "Everything's kind of a blur."

"A couple of things stand out that I may not hear about again, which is a bit like speed dating," she said.

One of those attracting most interest from the agents was a petite 15-year-old blond schoolgirl pitching what she called "a survival kit for kids turning into teenagers."

Kiki Freebery came along with her mother, a criminal defense attorney who was pitching her own legal thrillers.

Kiki hasn't written the book yet, or even a full-length proposal, but she said: "I met four people, all of them said they want to see my proposal."

I always say that a real writer (someone who expects to be published multiple times over their lifetime) should go to BEA at least once in their writing career.

Most writers think this means that as soon as they have a book to sell they should show up at this mega-publishing event where they have a captive audience of 30,000 agents and editors and hand out 10 lb manuscripts (yes, I have been approached by armed writers), proposals and business cards to pitch their wares.

Writers are the last people editors and agents want to see at BEA. Our focus is on selling rights to published books. We have office hours to hear about new books.

So why would I tell you to go there?

The best time for a writer to go to BEA is after s/he has sold her/his first book (preferably before it is published). When you walk through the aisles and aisles of promotional material for other writers' books that will be published in the coming 6 months, it should give you a really good idea of just how small your book is in the overall scheme of publishing and how hard you are going to have to work to stand out in the crowd.

When you are there, you should take notes on what other books or authors in your category are doing to make their books stand out (signings, costumes, bookmarks, scantily clad men and/or women with fliers) and see if you can be inspired for some unique way to promote your book cheaply (or you can pony up the money). Hopefully, you will be able to meet some more established writers (who are signing) and they will be kind enough to say they will read your book for a blurb. Don't forget to get their email address.

You might also get invited to some industry parties. Here you will schmooze. Do not party (meaning do not drink too much). Make sure you meet every reviewer, journalist and assistant editor in the place and get their cards. Write a thank you note as soon as you get home. Put them on your Christmas card list. This is called networking.

If it was worth while (you'll know this by the contacts you made), you might want to do it again and again. If not, you know what you were missing, whether or not you have the personality to do this particular writer dog and pony show, and just how big and intimidating the wide world of publishing is.

And maybe you'll have a little more respect for your agent and editors who have to do this every year on your behalf.

Monday, June 4, 2007

Writer's Digest pitch slam was much better than I expected, even though I was quite sick with a sore throat. I saw 40 writers in two hours and there were quite a few truly quirky ideas that I am hoping will prove to be wonderful.

Then I went out for drinks with my out-of-town agent buddies, which is always pleasurable.

Then out to dinner with writers.

Thursday I wrapped up my meetings for BEA and had one of my clients come into town to speak to my NYU class, where I teach a class on preparing your book for presentation to an agent or editor(we were doing the nonfiction book proposal and he had recently retooled a book concept he had been working on for 3 years, so he had a lot of insight on how to make your book stronger). Then we went to dinner. Then we went to the pre-BEA parties (they all seemed to be set for Thursday night).

Meanwhile, I received a call from Jenny Rappaport, the other agent at the agency, that she had an auction on her hands. She was very excited (and so was I for her). She's had a great year. I gave her suggestions on how to get more money for the book. She said she didn't think she could ask for so much. I reminded her that she is trying to come up with the cash to pay for her wedding. She got the money!

Hit the ground running on Friday. I had set up meetings with my foreign agents (who always come in for BEA) and out-of-town editors. I also had two meetings for clients from out-of-town who were meeting their editors or brainstorming.

I had a party to attend Friday, but my sore throat acted up, so I had an early night.

Back for meetings on Saturday all day and then I went out to dinner with some of my clients who were in town for BEA.

Sunday I just collapsed.

I'm up early today because I'm getting ready to run downtown for more meetings with out-of-town editors. This will go on for the next two days.